


my fall in love every day

by DragonEyez



Series: 15 Days of F@TT [6]
Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: 15 Days of FatT, 15 Days of FatT 2018, M/M, early lemfero, me and lem king are the same in that we both love fero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 16:50:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13791972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonEyez/pseuds/DragonEyez
Summary: it's bad enough to be running away, but to be running away with a stranger? that's a whole nother level





	my fall in love every day

**Author's Note:**

> title from [you can do better than me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK5aX_bms0s) by death cab for cutie 
> 
> day 6: fire

He knew he was obsessively running his hands over the violin case, but he couldn’t stop. Ever since fleeing the Archives, three? four? days ago with the halfling from the cave (Fero, Lem reminded himself. His name is Fero), the only things he felt he was capable of doing anymore was looking over his shoulder every few seconds and clutching the violin like it was a lifeline. Fero had been ridiculously casual about the whole affair, from the sudden and uninvited intrusion of the Archivist into his home to the fact that he was now apparently accompanying said Archivist on his escape. Lem knew if their positions had been reversed, and some wild looking stranger crashed into _his_ home without so much as a how-do-you-do because they believed it to be unoccupied, he would not have reacted by simply cocking his head to the side and offering a drink with a charmingly crooked smile.

That thought caused Lem to shake his head as if that very action could fling it from his mind. The situation was already dire enough without adding in...complicated emotions. Fero, for all his part in this, seemed unaffected. He was ahead of Lem, whistling some tune that seemed familiar but Lem couldn’t place. Belatedly, he turned to ask Devar what it was, before remembering with a heavy thunk in his chest that Devar was at the Archives still. 

“Hey buddy!” Lem snapped to attention, looking up almost guiltily at Fero, who had stopped to look at him, head titled like that would help him understand whatever he was trying to figure out. Between the head tilt and the way he was shifting from one foot to the other, Lem thought that Fero quite resembled a bird. He almost laughed at the comparison. And then he remembered he still needed to respond.

“Oh uh, yes?” 

“You alright there? You look like, a million years away.”

“I suppose I’m just thinking.” He pushed his glasses back of the bridge of his nose, a nervous tic that had recently redeveloped. 

“About what?”

“Well, the fact that I, well, this entire situation.”

Fero sat on a nearby log, looking up at the darkening sky. “Yeah we’ve got a long way to Velas I guess.”

“Not that- well that too. But, well, I’m a wanted man. I’m running away from my entire life with a stranger! I’ve left behind so many-” Lem cut himself off with a strangled laugh. He collapsed on the log next to Fero, wincing when it cracked under his weight. “How are you so calm about this? You’ve run off with a complete stranger!”  
“Oh is that what’s bothering you? I thought something was seriously wrong or something.”

“What about that doesn’t seem seriously wrong?”

“I don’t know. I never felt connected to Rosemarrow, y’know. Wasn’t really that big a deal for me when I up and left. Don’t even think my family really cared that much.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize that you’d-” He awkwardly gestured.

Fero just laughed. “What you thought I just like, popped up in that cave?”

Lem took in the wild-looking halfling, errant leaves in his hair and disheveled appearance, and privately thought that that wasn’t exactly out of the realm of possibility, but he kept that comment to himself. “I...never thought about it.”

“Well.” Fero leapt to his feet and began trudging into the forest. “Let’s set up camp for the night. It’s gonna rain soon.” 

Lem frowned up at the sky. It was certainly getting dark, but he didn’t know how Fero could tell it was going to rain. The Pattern hadn’t shifted that he could tell. But Fero seemed to have an affinity for nature in a way that he’d never encountered in anyone he’d ever met before, so he figured it was safer to trust him than to be sorry later on. 

“Fero don’t just run off I can’t find you in all these trees!”

Lem hurried after him, trying to avoid letting any tree branches smack him in the face. He was so focused on that that he didn’t realize he’d caught up to Fero until he tripped over him. Literally. The two tumbled over each other, yelling in surprise, making a large amount of racket. 

When he finally reoriented himself, Lem scrambled for the violin case, throwing it open and nearly crying in relief when he found that it was undamaged. The next thing he did was look around for Fero, apologies already falling from his lips. But the halfling was nowhere to be seen. In a panic he got onto his feet and cupped his hands around his mouth. 

“Fero? **_Fero_**? Fero where’d you go?” When there was no response, Lem braced his hands against his knees. “Oh my gods I crushed Fero.”

A loudly chirping finch circled his head a few times before landing on his shoulder. It almost sounded like it was _laughing_ at him. Lem straightened himself up and ran a hand over his hair, realizing that his bun had come loose. The bird twittered in his ear before flying to the ground and then _turning into Fero_. 

“Oh man you thought you squished me!” Fero was howling with laughter as Lem stood there, dumbfounded. After his laughter tapered off, Fero wiped away a tear before taking in Lem’s face. “Oh you actually thought- didn’t I tell you I could-”

“No! No I didn’t know you could turn into a bird!” Lem threw his hands up into the air. “ _Why_ would I know you could turn into a bird?!”

“I could’ve sworn I told you! Maybe I just thought about telling you and then forgot to and then just thought I did. Hmmm. Anyways!” He bent down and picked up the violin, handing it to Lem with a broad grin. “I think I found a clearing where we can build a campfire and set up the tent!” 

And no sooner than he had said those words than the sky opened up with a clap of thunder and poured down on them. Lem pulled the case close to his chest and tried to ignore how much his heart tried to recreate the maneuvers Fero-the-bird had done when Fero-the-person grabbed his hand and dragged him towards, presumably, the aforementioned clearing. 

They scrambled to put up the tent and get at least a modicum of shelter from the quickly growing storm, but they both looked on in despair as they realized that there was little chance of there being a fire that night. Fero brandished his flint uselessly before curling up on himself. 

“Well. Good thing we’ve got cold rations right?”

 

Lem looked at him, and then looked back out at the torrential downpour, and then at the violin case. “Here, I might be able to do, um, something about it?” He gently lifted the instrument and felt for the Pattern, seeing if he could actually do what he planned. He closed his eyes, shutting out Fero and the rain and the fear and drew the bow across the strings. It was a melancholy tune, one that wove into the rainfall and the rustling of the leaves and the scurrying forest creatures. He lost himself in it, and before he knew it, the song was over. 

When he opened his eyes, a gentle warmth filled the tent, and Fero stared at him wide-eyed. A small fire crackled gently at the front of the tent, hanging in the air.

“Is that- did you do that?”

“I- um- yes? Is that okay?”

“Is it safe?”

“Yes. It won’t burn the tent down if that’s what you’re worried about?”

“Then it’s amazing. You’re amazing.”

Lem flushed a deep green, looking away as he put away the violin, trying to ignore the fact that he was ignoring the facts. Or, fact rather.

“It’s nothing special, most Archivists can do that-”

“Hey no it’s really awesome. I don’t know anyone who could do that like that. I think it’s amazing!”

“Well then I, uh, I’m glad you liked it. I could probably do more Pattern Magic when we’re closer to Velas? And you could tell me more about your whole...bird thing?”

“Oh it’s not just birds! I can do like all these different animals. Like one time I turned into a cougar and-”

Lem listened in rapt attention as Fero described all the different kinds of animals he had turned into and how it felt and what it was like. He tried not to notice how Fero curled up into his side as the night went on, and eventually nodded off with his head in his lap. When he was sure that Fero was asleep, he hesitant carded his hand through the wild knotted curls. As they basked in the warmth of the fire, he thought that maybe the situation wasn’t so dire after all.

**Author's Note:**

> as always comments and constructive criticism are appreciated and i can be found [Link text](url) or on twitter @queerlydeparted


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